The present invention relates to apparatus for cutting produce stems and stalks, and in particular, to such apparatus which operates by the action of notched blades reciprocating within a rotating produce-receiving chamber.
Mechanical fruit and vegetable harvesters are being used increasingly in harvesting such diverse produce as beans, tomatoes and strawberries. In general, produce harvesters operate by removing the entire plant or large parts thereof from the ground rather than by picking selectively the produce crop from the plant, as is done in hand picking. Once the plant has been severed or pulled up by the harvester, it must be further processed to cut or otherwise separate the produce from the remaining stem, stalk and leafy material of the plant.
An important operational characteristic of plant-producing apparatus designed for severing produce from remainder portions of a plant is that the severing be done without injuring the produce. Secondly, because such apparatus typically could be mounted on a mechanical harvester, and work in conjunction therewith, the apparatus should be durable and simple in construction. A further desirable feature is that the apparatus have a processing capacity equaling the capacity of the harvester to which the apparatus is attached.
One object of the present invention is to provide apparatus capable of severing plant produce from remainder parts of harvested plants, without producing significant injury to the produce.
Another object of the invention is to provide a durable, high-capacity plant-processing apparatus suitable for use with a mechanical harvester.
A further object of the present invention is to provide plant-processing apparatus having a plurality of blades which can be interchanged to adapt the machine to different plant-processing or cluster-cutting operations.
The present invention includes a revolvable produce-receiving chamber having a plurality of blade-receiving apertures spaced around its outer wall, and a revolvable blade carrier mounted outside of, and adjacent the chamber. The carrier includes plural elongate blades extending substantially radially through associated aperture into the chamber. The chamber is revolvably coupled to the carrier, wherein revolution of the chamber or the carrier produces related revolution of the carrier or the chamber, respectively, with such revolution producing generally radially directed, recurrent reciprocation of each blade relative to its associated aperture.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the produce-receiving chamber is cylindrical, and is mounted for rotation about a first, slightly inclined axis. The blade carrier is mounted for rotation about a second axis which is offset from, and substantially parallel to, the first axis. The carrier and chamber are rotatably driven, at the same speed, by a power-driven shaft rotatably coupled to each.
The blades employed in the present invention may be interchangeable to adapt the apparatus to process different types of produce. More particularly, the blades are rigid bands having transversely extending notches formed therein, with the size and edge characteristics of the notches varying according to the produce to be processed.
In operation, harvested plant material is introduced into one end of the produce-receiving chamber, while the same is corotating with the carrier. The plant material, and particularly the stalks and stems connecting the produce to the plant, become captured in the knife notches, and are cut as the knives retreat through associated chamber apertures. The plant material encounters plural axially spaced arrays of blades and thereby is cut successively as it passes axially through the chamber.